Nonwoven fabric laminates are useful for a wide variety of applications. Such nonwoven fabric laminates are useful for wipers, towels, industrial garments, medical garments, medical drapes, and the like. In heavier basis weights the laminates are used in recreational applications such as tents and as car covers. Disposable fabric laminates have achieved especially widespread use in hospital operating rooms for drapes, gowns, towels, footcovers, sterilization wraps, and the like. Such surgical fabric laminates are generally spunbonded/meltblown/spunbonded (SMS) laminates consisting of nonwoven outer layers of spun-bonded polyolefins and an interior barrier layer of melt-blown polyolefins. Particularly, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the assignee of the present invention, has for a number of years manufactured and sold SMS nonwoven surgical fabric laminates, sterilization wrap and recreational fabrics under the marks Spunguard.RTM. and Evolution.RTM.. Such SMS fabric laminates have outside spunbonded layers which are durable and an internal melt-blown barrier layer which is porous but which, in combination with the spunbond layers, inhibits the strikethrough of liquids or the penetration of bacteria from the outside of the fabric laminate to the inside. In order for such a medical fabric to perform properly, it is necessary that the melt-blown barrier layer have a fiber size and a porosity that assures breathability of the fabric while at the same time inhibiting strikethrough of liquids.
Personal care absorbent articles such as disposable diapers, training pants, incontinent wear and feminine hygiene products utilize nonwoven fabrics for many purposes such as liners, transfer layers, absorbent media, backings, and the like. For many such applications the barrier properties of the nonwoven play an important role such as, for example, as containment flaps described in coassigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,116 to Enloe dated Nov. 3, 1987, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. As described therein, disposable garments utilized for the absorption and containment of urine or other body exudates generally comprise a liquid pervious bodyside liner, a fluid impervious backing sheet with an absorbent material disposed therebetween and can be provided with improved containment by means of flaps. It is also desirable for personal care product applications such as containment flaps that the nonwoven fabric be soft and conformable and that the porosity of the fabric provide a level of breathability for increased comfort. As cost is always a factor, the ability to provide these benefits at low cost is another consideration.
Although nonwoven laminates having some combination of the properties desired have been available, they have not been widely utilized for applications such as the aforementioned flaps because one or more of the important considerations has been lacking or not present to a desired degree. The present invention is directed to improved nonwoven laminates satisfying those and other desired requirements.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings.